lfs-book/chapter06/autoconf.xml

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  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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<sect1 id="ch-system-autoconf" xreflabel="Autoconf" role="wrap">
<title>Autoconf-&autoconf-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="autoconf.html"?>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf"><primary sortas="a-Autoconf">Autoconf</primary></indexterm>

<sect2 role="package"><title/>
<para>The Autoconf package contains programs for producing shell scripts that
can automatically configure source code.</para>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&buildtime;</segtitle>
<segtitle>&diskspace;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>0.5 SBU</seg><seg>7.7 MB</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Autoconf installation depends on</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>Bash, Coreutils, Diffutils, Grep,
M4, Make, Perl, Sed</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>
</sect2>

<sect2 role="installation">
<title>Installation of Autoconf</title>

<para>Prepare Autoconf for compilation:</para>

<screen><userinput>./configure --prefix=/usr</userinput></screen>

<para>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>To test the results, issue:
<userinput>make check</userinput>. This takes a long time, about 2 SBUs.</para>

<para>Install the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="contents-autoconf" role="content"><title>Contents of Autoconf</title>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>autoconf, autoheader, autom4te,
autoreconf, autoscan, autoupdate and ifnames</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<variablelist><title>Short descriptions</title>

<varlistentry id="autoconf">
<term><command>autoconf</command></term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf autoconf"><primary sortas="b-autoconf">autoconf</primary></indexterm>
<para>is a tool for producing shell scripts
that automatically configure software source code packages to adapt to many
kinds of Unix-like systems. The configuration scripts it produces are
independent -- running them does not require the autoconf program.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="autoheader">
<term><command>autoheader</command> </term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf autoheader"><primary sortas="b-autoheader">autoheader</primary></indexterm>
<para>is a tool for creating template files 
of C #define statements for configure to use.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="autom4te">
<term><command>autom4te</command></term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf autom4te"><primary sortas="b-autom4te">autom4te</primary></indexterm>
<para>is a wrapper for the M4 macro processor.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="autoreconf">
<term><command>autoreconf</command></term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf autoreconf"><primary sortas="b-autoreconf">autoreconf</primary></indexterm>
<para>comes in handy when there are a lot
of autoconf-generated configure scripts around. The program runs autoconf and
autoheader repeatedly (where appropriate) to remake the autoconf configure
scripts and configuration header templates in a given directory tree.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="autoscan">
<term><command>autoscan</command> </term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf autoscan"><primary sortas="b-autoscan">autoscan</primary></indexterm>
<para>can help to create a
<filename>configure.in</filename> file for a software package. It examines
the source files in a directory tree, searching them for common portability
problems and creates a <filename>configure.scan</filename> file that serves as
as a preliminary <filename>configure.in</filename> for the package.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="autoupdate">
<term><command>autoupdate</command></term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf autoupdate"><primary sortas="b-autoupdate">autoupdate</primary></indexterm>
<para>modifies a <filename>configure.in</filename> file that still calls autoconf 
macros by their old names to use the current macro names.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="ifnames">
<term><command>ifnames</command> </term>
<listitem>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-autoconf ifnames"><primary sortas="b-ifnames">ifnames</primary></indexterm>
<para>can be helpful when writing a
<filename>configure.in</filename> for a software package. It prints the
identifiers that the package uses in C preprocessor conditionals. If a package
has already been set up to have some portability, this program can help to
determine what <command>configure</command> needs to check. It can fill
in some gaps in a <filename>configure.in</filename> file generated by
autoscan.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>

</sect1>